Steve Davis: The Count Is Up To Nine

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Now that the Ravens are parting ways with Vonta Leach, the count is up to 9 of starters not returning from the Super Bowl team.

(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

That is absolutely unprecedented. No Super Bowl Champion has ever lost more than 5 starters for the following season.

That said, very few Super Bowl champs have repeated, so maybe this is a good move. Just look at fairly recent history. Since the Broncos went back to back in the late 90’s, only one team has repeated, and that was the Patriots in 2003 and 2004. 5 times since the Broncos repeated, the defending champ missed the playoffs altogether. And, outside of the Patriots defending their title, none of the other Super Bowl winners even advance to the conference championship.

What does that tell us?

Number one, it is difficult to repeat. Number two, maybe the formula of trying to repeat with basically the same team is flawed. So, maybe the Ravens are onto something.